There are a wide variety of electrical connectors or terminating components which are mountable on a printed circuit board for receiving a complementary connector or other electrical device to be connected to the circuit board. In some instances, the connection to the circuit board is fairly permanent. In other applications, it is desirable to be able to connect and disconnect an electrical component to and from the circuit board by means of an electrical connecting device.
For instance, socket-type connectors may be mounted to a printed circuit board for receiving the terminal pins of an electrical component. The socket typically includes at least one contact for engaging the terminal pin, with the contact connected, such as by soldering, to a circuit trace on the circuit board. Therefore, the contact of the socket interconnects the terminal pin of the electrical component to the circuit trace on the printed circuit board.
One of the problems in designing electrical connectors such as terminal-receiving sockets for mounting on printed circuit boards is to ensure that the mating electrical component is not easily disconnected from the socket. In other words, it is not desirable for the terminal pins of the electrical component to be easily withdrawn from the socket, particularly accidentally or unintentionally during use. Unfortunately, when designing such sockets to have adequate anti-withdrawal forces, the insertion forces of the terminal pins into the sockets often are correspondingly increased. High insertion forces can cause the terminal pins to buckle or bend or actually be broken. High insertion forces also cause undue stresses on the printed circuit board and its associated components. The present invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a very simple and efficient terminal-receiving socket of the character described, wherein the socket allows for low terminal insertion forces while providing high terminal withdrawal forces.